THE WEB VERSION OF THIS COLUMN DIFFERS SLIGHTLY FROM THAT PUBLISHED IN "THE GRAPEVINE"
Computing for the Bewildered. By Bill Hayles
Hello again.
The same topic seems to arrive in my mail box month after month: "How
do I get a Spanish internet connection?", or "I've got an account, how
do I use it?".
This was covered some time ago in The Grapevine - the editor reproduced
one of my FAQ files (Frequently Asked Questions) from the Costa Blanca
Expats group. However, since that was published, the market has
changed, and so I think it would be a good idea to use the updated
information as the basis for the column this month.
What follows assumes that you are connecting to the Internet through
your normal telephone line with an analogue modem - this is true for
almost all of you, and if you're one of the exceptions you'll already
know it! I hope to cover these faster connections, RDSI (ISDN) and
ADSL in a future column.
SPANISH ISPs
---------------
The three main Spanish ISPs are Terra (aka Teleline)
owned by the Spanish telephone company Telefonica,
Wanadoo,
owned by its French parent of the same name,
and Eresmas and Telepolis, who are essentially the same
and it is on these that we
will concentrate.
There are many other providers, large and small
AOL also have a presence in Spain (http://www.aol.es). However, AOL
work differently from everybody else. You cannot (as far as I can see)
sign up on line. You have to go to one of their sales agents, who
include (in the Alicante Province) branches of Media Markt and
Carrefour. AOL use their own software, and are more like an
independent network with content of their own with Internet access
tagged on. Almost none of what follows applies to AOL!
ACCOUNTS
--------
All the ISPs offer "free" accounts. With these, you pay the ISP
nothing, but connect through a phone call charged at local rates.
Other offers vary from month to month - you will need to check the
websites of the ISPs.
Currently, Terra are not offering any sort of flat rate deal (tarifa
plana), but these can be bought from Wanadoo, Eresmas and Telepolis at
a rate of between 16 and 18 Euros per month. For this sum, you have
unlimited access through a free number at off peak times (1800 to 0800
Monday to Friday, all day Saturdays and Sunday).
Wanadoo allow you to couple this with "bonos", which give you varying
amounts of peak rate access, ranging from 22 Euros for 6 hours per
month to 37 Euros for 30 hours. The bonos can be contracted without
the Tarifa Plana, should you so with.
Telepolis also allow you 30 minutes of national calls per month
included in your Tarifa Plana.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
-----------------
Both Terra and Wanadoo advertise telephone and e-mail support in
English 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. Feedback I've received is that
this facility is indeed available, although you may need to wait. I
believe that this is also available with Telepolis, although I've never
used it. Be warned that telephone support for the "free" accounts, and
also some tarifa plana accounts,in whatever language, is by means of a
premium rate number!
SIGNING UP FOR AN ACCOUNT
-------------------------
This couldn't be easier, provided you have a basic understanding of
Spanish or have somebody with you who does.
Go to the web page of your chosen ISP, and follow the instructions.
For example, for Wanadoo, click on "Acceso Internet" from the home
page, pick your account type, and click on "Quiero Darme de Alta. Fill
in the forms, and that's that. Make sure you make a note of the
information given (listed below) which you will need to establish your
connection.
SETTING UP THE CONNECTION.
--------------------------
I will be assuming that you are using Windows 95 or Windows 98, and
that you have just obtained an account with one of the major Spanish
ISPs. I will also assume that your modem is correctly set up and
working. The procedure is very much the same for other recent versions
of Windows.
The ISP will have supplied you with the following information (items
marked with * are what you give to them!)
Your user name to make the connection (and password *)
Your local access node (the number you need to dial to connect)
Your IP address
Their DNS (name server) addresses.
Although you don't need them just to connect and browse the web, you
will also be given details of:
Your user name to access your e-mail (and password *)
Your e-mail address
Their POP3 server
Their SMTP server
Their news server
OK, so what do we do with this information?
HOW DO WE CONFIGURE OUR CONNECTION?
-----------------------------------
Open "My Computer", then "Dial-up Networking".
Click on the "Make New Connection" icon.
In the "Type a name for the computer you are dialing", put whatever you
like - this will be the icon description when the connection
configuration is completed.
The "Select a device" box should already be filled in. Unless you have
more than one modem, there will be no reason (or easy way) of changing
this.
There is no need to click the "configure" box, unless you know what
you're doing. The default settings are reliable rather than lightning
fast.
Click "next"
You will be asked to type in the number of your local connection. Put
all nine digits in the "telephone number" box, and nothing in the area
code - this makes life easier later! Make sure the country or region
code is showing "Spain (34)". If not, your computer is incorrectly set
up!
Click "next" and you will be told you have successfully created a new
connection - but your work's only just starting!!
What next? CONFIGURATION - SECOND STAGE
Go back to the "Dial-up Networking" folder. Your new connection should
be shown there.
Right click on the icon and select "Properties"
On the first page, "General", make sure no digits are displayed in the
area code box, and make sure "Use area code and dialing properties" is
unchecked (it's checked by default)
On the next page, "Server Types", the server type can be various things
(if it's greyed out, it's unchangeable and right!), but should refer to
some sort of PPP connection. If not, continue anyway and if you have no
luck call for help.
The boxes underneath are where Windows gets it wrong!
Only "Enable Software Compression" and "TCP/IP" should be checked.
Uncheck all others.
Now click on the TCP/IP settings box. This is where the fun starts!
The "addresses" you are being asked to input consist of a set of four
numbers, between 0 and 255. Your ISP will have given you these.
Unless you have an ADSL connection, you will be using a dynamic IP.
Check the "server assigned IP" box, and that's all you will need to do
for that.
However, some Spanish ISPs do not use server
assigned DNS (name server) addresses, and you will need to enter these.
On the major ISPs, I understand only Terra still work like this, but if
you know the numbers for your ISP, it will give you a more reliable
connection if you can put them in.
The WINS settings will always be 0.0.0.0
For Wanadoo, the Primary DNS is 62.37.228.20 and the secondary DNS
62.36.220.75
For Terra, the Primary DNS is 195.235.113.3 and the secondary DNS
195.235.96.90
For Eresmas or Telepolis, the Primary DNS is 62.81.16.197 and the
secondary DNS 62.81.0.1
"Use IP compression header" and "Use default gateway" should both be
checked.
Click on "OK". Don't touch the scripting and multilink pages.
Go back to the "General" page and click OK.
Now it's time to connect!
CONNECTING!
Double click the icon for your connection.
You will be confronted by a dialog box with some fields filled in. The
user name will (probably) be wrong.
You need to change it to the user name for logging on to your account.
This is NOT the same as your e-mail or pop3 name. I can't tell you what
it will be - you will have been told when you signed up for your
account, and I hope you made a note of it, but it's probably something
like
myusername@wanadoo or
myusername@uni2 (both Wanadoo)
MYUSERNAME@telelineb (Terra)
myusername@eresmas.com (Eresmas)or
myusername@telepolis.com (Telepolis)
The password is whatever you chose.
If you have followed these instructions correctly, the number to call
should be filled in correctly, but if not, correct it.
Click on the "connect" button and you should be connected. You will
know you've successfully connected by the dialog box disappearing, and
a little icon of two connected screens appearing in your System Tray.
No news is good news - if the connection fails, you will be told.
Also, most (but not all) modems make noises as they connect.
I HAVEN'T CONNECTED. WHY?
If you've heard no noise from your modem, then it probably isn't
connected to your phone line! Check all connections, and that somebody
else isn't using your phone.
If you're told "wrong user name or password", check both for errors of
spelling and case. The Internet is, in general, case sensitive.
If you hear "¡Digame!"coming from the modem, you've dialled the wrong
number and have a real person at the other end!!
In all cases, check everything and try again.
When successfully connected, you can start browsing.
If any part of this FAQ is unclear, or you think there's something I
haven't explained, please e-mail me.
That's it for this month, but if you have a question you'd like me to
answer in the column,or maybe an idea for a topic, please e-mail it to
questions@billnot.com, If you don't have e-mail, you can always leave
your question at the CopiShop. However, I can't guarantee to answer
questions personally.
Saturday morning classes at The Oasis Centre will continue until at
least the end of June. They start at 1030, not 1000 as some of you
seem to think, and go on until 1230. Everyone welcome.
My Costa Blanca Expats Internet Group can be found at
http://groups.costablancaexpats.net
and the "Rogues' Gallery" at
If you have been, thanks for reading this.